With Houston dropping its pursuit of Nick Caserio, there now is a scenario under which the Texans will go this season without an official General Manager. For less than a year, Bill O’Brien, Jack Easterby and the scouting dept could divvy up the duties.

The NFL’s anti-tampering policy states, “Any interference by a member club with the employer-employee relationship of another club or any attempt by a club to impermissibly induce a person to seek employment with that club or with the NFL” is impermissible.

If the Texans are found guilty of tampering, they could be fined by the league. Or the NFL could take away a draft pick (or picks). The Patriots, of course, are no strangers to NFL-imposed discipline for cheating accusations (see: Spygate and Deflategate).

The Texans are seeking a new general manager to work with head coach Bill O’Brien (a former Patriots assistant) because they fired Brian Gaine after just one season on the job.

Caserio is one of the most highly respected non-GM executives in the NFL. He has been instrumental in building the Patriots into the dynasty that they are.

He has been the Patriots’ director of player personnel since 2008. Before that, he was their director of pro personnel and an area scout. He started with the Patriots in 2001 (one year after coach Bill Belichick arrived) as a personnel assistant, then worked his way up.

Caserio, 43, has also served as an offensive coaching assistant with the Patriots (in 2002) and as their wide receivers coach (in 2007). But he has mostly been a front office star, though Belichick has final say over the Patriots’ roster.